


i've got plans to get to you

by lolainslackss



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Moving In Together, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 18:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13769856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolainslackss/pseuds/lolainslackss
Summary: Neil has been transferred to Andrew's team and he's excited to finally move in with his boyfriend. Andrew, however, has other ideas.





	i've got plans to get to you

Neil Josten was sitting in an idle taxi and he couldn't wait to get _home_.

The slightly nervous excitement ballooned in his chest as he shot the red light a dirty look. His driver had been chatting away about all the passengers he'd dropped off that day. He had a story for everyone, it seemed, and Neil wondered if he'd tell the next passenger that he just dropped off Neil Josten, Exy player, and new Striker for the Golden Eagles.

 _Andrew's team_.

Neil grinned as the light turned green.

See, the thing was, he had considered Andrew's place _their place_ for a while now. In fifth year it was a welcome place to escape to when things at Palmetto got overwhelming. When he joined the Thistles, the apartment was a haven; a place to retreat to on weekends and holidays to rant about his poor excuse for a team. When they got the cats, Neil's immediate family extended all of a sudden, and he soon began looking forward to being welcomed home from the airport by them, which in turn led to him wishing he could come home to them every single day.

And mostly? It was his, and it was Andrew's. It was the place where they would come together. And the first night was always sprawling, endless. After that, whatever time they had _sped_ by; it was a forgotten faucet, spilling and spilling until the water ran dry.

So then, there were sounds of goodbye: the cats mewing, and the door closing, and the pop of the Maserati locks, and the airport announcements, and the actual _goodbye_ , which was not a goodbye at all, and more like a _this won't always be the way_.

And it _wouldn't_ always be the way, because Neil had signed to the Golden Eagles only yesterday, and now he was moving, and now the apartment would truly be _theirs_ in an actual, literal, physical sense.

The taxi turned onto Andrew's block and Neil unbuckled his seatbelt before it came to a stop. He quickly paid and climbed out, heading straight to the trunk to grab his bags.

As he did so, however, he noticed Andrew standing by the door, a couple of plastic cat carriers at his feet, and a cigarette in his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Neil demanded immediately, ditching his bags and marching towards Andrew, "Are King and Sir sick? Do they need a vet?"

Andrew tilted his head slightly and breathed in a deep drag of cigarette smoke.

"You brought luggage," Andrew said eventually, looking at the multitude of bags and cases in the taxi's trunk.

"Well, yeah," Neil said, rolling his eyes, "I'm moving in,"

As Andrew ditched the cigarette and reached down to grab the cat carriers, the taxi driver got out to help with the bags.

"Not necessary," Andrew told him, pushing past Neil, "We need to take this stuff somewhere else. Follow my car?"

Neil narrowed his eyes at Andrew, but had no choice but to follow him to the parked Maserati.

Which was full of Andrew's stuff.

"What is happening?" Neil asked, as he climbed in the passenger seat. The cats whined from the backseat, as if to say, _tell me about it_.

"We're moving," Andrew said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the entire universe.

"I thought _I_ was moving," Neil countered as they pulled away.

"Nope," Andrew replied, "We both are,"

"I mean," Neil began, "I get it. That place _is_ a little cramped for the four of us,"

Andrew shot Neil a look.

"But," Neil went on, "I thought that would be something we'd deal with within the year? Not, like, _immediately_ ,"

"Why not?" Andrew asked.

"Because I just got here?" Neil offered weakly.

"Yeah," Andrew agreed, "So why waste time?"

Neil didn't respond, startled by the shift in the evening's direction. He hadn't expected any of this at all. He'd expected a beautifully ordinary night at Andrew's apartment: cats, take-out, whisky, and blow jobs. Preferably in that order. Having a move on top of the move was not something he'd considered.

He wondered how long Andrew had been planning this - if he'd been going to viewings for a while, picking out a place that would _fit_ : fit them, their cats, their _life_. Neil was overcome by a sudden warmth at the thought of it, and, despite his initial shock, he found himself smiling. He wondered what kind of place Andrew had picked out for them.

They drove along the mostly deserted highway for about twenty minutes. It was silent bar the hushed murmur of the radio and the soft purring of the cats. And it was dark outside, the glow of red tail-lights glittering in the distance illuminating Andrew's hands, which were gripped tight around the steering wheel.

Finally, Andrew pulled off the highway, and the taxi followed.

The came to a stop outside of an apartment complex. In Neil's opinion, it didn't look so dissimilar from Andrew's old place, but before he could comment, Andrew was climbing out of the Maserati. Neil followed, and Andrew handed him the two cat carriers as he went to help the taxi driver with Neil's cases. Neil watched as Andrew slung one of Neil's bags over his shoulder and grabbed a case in each hand.

Neil wordlessly followed as Andrew unlocked the main door and led them into the stairwell. Neil noticed that the building was super clean, and that there was a communal garden at the back. He trailed after Andrew up a few flights of stairs before Andrew stilled in front of a doorway. Neil sucked in a breath as Andrew met his eyes while he opened it. Andrew let the door swing open and nodded to Neil.

Neil flicked the lights on as he crossed the threshold. As he did, a dizzying jolt swooped low in his stomach. He swallowed hard to stop himself from gasping. The entire thing was all a bit _too much_. He wasn't sure when it became acceptable to feel so happy, so undone.

The apartment was beautiful.

There was a master bedroom to the right, and Andrew's cosy double mattress was plonked on the floor for the time being. Some of Andrew's things were scattered on the tops of surfaces as well, but beyond that it was empty and undecorated. Opposite the front door was a bathroom with a large bathtub, and through to the left was a lounge, kitchen and guest bedroom. Neil placed the cat carriers on the floor and walked through to the kitchen. Opposite the recently-installed appliances was a booth by the window. It was perfect. They could sit and eat breakfast in the mornings, smoke out of the window in the evenings.

Neil turned to Andrew, feeling slightly bowled over. He didn't know what to say, and Andrew watched him, his gaze steady.

"Thank you," Neil said eventually, "It's perfect,"

Andrew shrugged and dumped some of Neil's bags down on the lounge carpet.

"I would have helped look," Neil said, suddenly feeling like he wasn't owed any of this, like it wasn't at all deserved, "If I knew,"

"I didn't want you to," Andrew replied simply, and Neil sighed through his nose. Andrew wanted it to be a _surprise_.

"I'm excited," Neil assured him, "There's so much space. We can do so much with it,"

"Do whatever you want," Andrew told him, "I don't care as long as we get a bed as soon as possible,"

With that, Andrew tossed Neil a set of keys and turned to make his way back downstairs to bring up the rest of Neil's stuff.

"Wait-" Neil called out, catching the keys easily, "I mean- but- you have to let me know how much the rent is. So I can pay my half,"

He couldn't believe this was happening to him - that this was a home to be _his_ , to be _theirs_. Even with his tithe to the Moriyamas Neil was earning more than he'd ever wanted or expected to. He had enough to pay for his half of the rent.

"There is no rent," Andrew told him, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Neil replied, confused.

"I bought this place," Andrew said, and Neil nearly dropped the keys in shock.

"You- you-" He tried, staring at Andrew open-mouthed.

"What?" Andrew asked, shrugging, "They've paid me enough to buy this building fifty times over the last couple of years. All for blocking a few lousy shots,"

"You-" Neil attempted again.

"Me," Andrew agreed, pressing his lips together.

"I thought I was supposed to be the endlessly surprising one," Neil managed eventually, weakly.

"Don't get carried away," Andrew said, "It's just a dumb apartment,"

"It's _not_ -" Neil started, taking a step forward.

"The other one was too small to accommodate an idiot and his two idiot cats, like you said," Andrew interrupted.

"No," Neil said, and even though he was keenly aware of how in awe of Andrew he sounded, he didn't care a bit, "This is a home. You bought us a home,"

"Big deal," Andrew said, and Neil noticed the way his body language subtly changed, like he was preparing for a game, a fight, a session with Aaron and Bee, like he was preparing to _care_.

And Neil noticed the words that went unspoken: _you're alive, here, now. You bought us more than a home - you bought us a future_. And Neil wondered if they'd ever call it quits, call it equal, if they'd ever stop owing each other.

"You can't buy me an apartment just because I sold myself to the Moriyamas," He said finally.

"I didn't," Andrew countered, and he shook his head slightly, annoyed, "I bought _us_ an apartment because I wanted to. Deal with it,"

"Okay," Neil said, if only to stop Andrew from leaving, " _Okay_. I'm just surprised,"

Andrew folded his arms.

"This is a lot," Neil went on.

"Too much?" Andrew asked.

Neil winced.

"No," He replied, taking a step forward towards Andrew, "Not too much. I'm excited to move in with you. I mean, I couldn't sit still on the plane. It's all I've wanted since I left Palmetto. Fuck, it's all I've wanted since _you_ left Palmetto. I just never expected to live with anyone, to build a home with anyone, let alone be _gifted_ a beautiful, carefully-selected apartment that I know we're going to love and make ours. I'm just- I'm _happy_ ,"

The word kind of shocked him as it came out of his mouth, and Andrew regarded him coolly. Neil wondered what Andrew was thinking, wondered if any of this made _him_ happy too.

"The taxi driver won't wait forever," Andrew said eventually, breaking the silence, "Let's bring in the rest of the stuff,"

It took a couple of trips, but they eventually brought all their bags up to the new apartment. It was so bare, and so lovely, Neil thought. He couldn't wait to unpack all their things, buy new things, make new memories. He smiled as they finally closed the door.

"Yes or no?" Andrew asked him, and Neil realised that in the rush they hadn't even had a chance to kiss, to _touch_.

"Yes," Neil replied instantly, "Yes,"

And Andrew reached out and took Neil's hand in his own. He raised it to his mouth, mapped a trail of kisses across Neil's knuckles as if to say, _welcome home_. Neil thought he felt close to melting.

When Andrew slammed him into the wall and sucked a purple blossom into his neck, he unravelled.

Later, they lay beneath two blankets on Andrew's old mattress in the middle of the room, and Neil sighed into Andrew's neck as the moonlight spilled into the room through the open window. The door creaked open and the jingling of cats' bells filled the room.

"Cats," Neil muttered, and Andrew grunted in response.

They were exhausted, warm, done, but Neil was excited, and he was keen to share their first night in their new, shared home with them.

"Come on in," Neil murmured, lifting the blankets so that the two cats could slink inside. They made their way down to the bottom of the mattress, where Neil and Andrew's feet were tangled together. The sudden sensation of fur brushing their bare ankles made Neil shiver and turn. Andrew responded to the sudden absense of Neil by curling up behind him, the front of his thighs pressing hard against the back of Neil's thighs.

Neil felt Andrew's breath, warm and welcome, at the back of his neck, and he heard the cats, purring contentedly, at his feet, and he sighed happily.

Of all the places he'd lived, and of all the places he'd considered, briefly, to be a home, he knew this one would be the best of all.

**Author's Note:**

> it's drinkin' wine and postin' fic time for me, your pal. hi.
> 
> this is based on Nora's [extra content](http://korakos.tumblr.com/post/133213172892/when-is-the-happiest-neil-has-ever-been-and-when) about Andrew and Neil's happiest moments. i would (highkey) LOVE to write about all of these moments. i wanna write an Olympics future fic godammit but idk. :,)
> 
> title taken from 'plans' by oh wonder, which is the future fic bop ??
> 
> a [tumblr](http://palmetttos.tumblr.com/) i guess


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